Forgeries of paintings may be the stuff of movies, but forgery of signature on documents happens more often than the public realizes.

For example, International Investigators recently had an inquiry about a home that was being sold on a lease-to-rent agreement. The original tenant/buyer died during the term of the sales agreement. His sister and her husband, who had lived with him for the last several months of his life, were not parties to the agreement. However, when the landlord/seller went to the property to discuss the situation, the sister produced a signed sales contract between her, her brother (the original tenant/buyer) and the landlord/seller and his wife outlining different terms for the sale.

Their attorney contacted us because they believed that someone had forged signatures on the second document.

An expert handwriting analysis usually takes about a week to 10 days to complete. We work with well-known forensic document examiner. He has more than 30 years of experience in the field and has provided training on the subject for a wide array of professional and government organizations, corporations associations.

Handwriting analysts use a collection of authentic samples called exemplars for comparison. Those can be:

Signed checks

Signed legal documents such as wills, deeds, leases, sales contracts

Signed tax returns

The more exemplars a handwriting analysis expert has, the better. He is able to compare the authentic signatures to the suspected forged document and provide an expert opinion and serve as an expert witness in court.

Document forgery alone and in connection with a theft is a crime, but it takes an expert to uncover the forgery in a scientific manner. Again, the mission of International Investigators is to uncover the truth so decisions are made with solid, proven information.